Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite by Cllr Lucky Dinake attached here
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni has formally written to the EFF Speaker of Council, Cllr Tshivhenga to compel her to reconvene the Council meeting of 27 February 2025.
This follows the procedurally flawed adjournment of the meeting by the EFF Speaker in a deliberate attempt to create disorder and disrupt Council proceedings.
If the Speaker fails to do so, we will engage all parties in Council to invoke Section 29 (1) of the Municipal Structures Act as amended, which allows for the Municipal Manager or a person designated by the MEC for local government in the province to call and chair the meeting.
The council meeting she adjourned, was set to deliberate the in-committee item titled “Report on the accusation of alleged misconduct and fraudulent activity within the Office of the Speaker in the City of Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality” wherein the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department provided key findings of an investigation that was conducted, wherein the Speaker of Council, Councillor Nthabiseng Tshivhenga, is alleged to be implicated in corrupt activities.
We suspected that the incompetent EFF Speaker would use her position of power to silence this damning report. It was for this reason that we raised our concerns to the Multi-party Whippery Forum prior to council, demanding that the Speaker recuse herself during the item.
Unanimously, the forum resolved to request her recusal from presiding over proceedings related to the item.
Cllr Tshivhenga’s refusal to recuse herself from presiding over the In-committee session is a clear conflict of interest. She further stated that the report on the accusation of alleged misconduct and fraudulent activity within her office was before the courts and could not be debated, constituting a deliberate attempt to obstruct the Council’s oversight function. We believe we cannot allow the council to continue degenerating at the cost of service delivery to our residents.